Wednesday, 1 May 2013

John Morris heads west...further west

John Morris

Looks like rumours of John Morris heading to British Columbia to team up with Jim Cotter are bang on. It was announced that Morris is heading to BC. At the very least it should be a very competitive team.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of Jason Gunnlaugson. Doesn't it seem like it was just a few years ago that he was the next big thing in curling, with his heater and subsequent move to Russia.

Morris and Cotter will be teaming up to play in the Capital One Road to the Roar pre-trials being held in Morris' former back yard of Kitchener in November.

Interesting note: Just two of the teams are from east of Ottawa. Twenty-four teams will be looking to take a step closer to the 2014
Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, when the 2013 Capital One Road to
the Roar Pre-Trials, presented by Monsanto, get underway on Nov. 5 at
the Memorial Auditorium Complex in Kitchener, Ont.

Tim Hortons Brier champion Brad Jacobs will
be playing in the 2013 Capital One Road to the Roar Pre-Trials in
Kitchener, Ont. (Photo, CCA/Michael Burns)

Twelve teams of each gender will play off for two berths into the Tim
Hortons Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials, presented by
Monsanto, Dec. 1 to 8 at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. The Trials will
decide Canada’s teams to compete for Olympic gold in Sochi.Teams qualified for the Road to the Roar through the Canadian Curling
Association’s Canadian Team Ranking System. Here is the list of teams:Men
Brad Jacobs, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Brad Gushue, St. John’s, Nfld.
Mark Kean, Toronto
Jim Cotter, Kelowna, B.C.
Steve Laycock, Saskatoon
Joe Frans, Bradford, Ont.
Jean-Michel Ménard, St-Romuald, Que.
Greg Balsdon, Toronto
Rob Fowler, Brandon, Man.
Bryan Cochrane, Ottawa
Jake Higgs, Harriston, Ont.
Rob Rumfeldt, Guelph, Ont.Women
Shannon Kleibrink, Calgary
Laura Crocker, Edmonton
Renee Sonnenberg, Grande Prairie, Alta. (Note: This berth was originally won by Kim Schneider, but the team declined it)
Cheryl Bernard, Calgary
Crystal Webster, Calgary
Amber Holland, Regina
Val Sweeting, Edmonton
Kelly Scott, Kelowna, B.C.
Cathy Auld, Mississauga, Ont.
Tracy Horgan, Sudbury, Ont.
Barb Spencer, Winnipeg
Krista McCarville, Thunder Bay, Ont. (Note: This berth was originally won by Cathy Overton-Clapham, but the team declined it)In addition to being officially named as a competing team in the Road
to the Roar, Cotter’s team also announced on Wednesday that it has
added 2010 Olympic gold-medallist John Morris to its lineup for the
2013-14 season.The format for the Pre-Trials will see teams play a modified
triple-knockout draw leading to a four-team playoff. One playoff
qualifier will come out of the A-event, one from the B-event and two
from the C-event. The A- and B-event qualifiers will meet in the
playoffs, with the winner advancing to the Tim Hortons Roar of the
Rings.The two C-event qualifiers, meanwhile, will meet in the playoffs,
with the winner advancing to play against the loser of the A-B game. The
winner earns the other Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings berth.For more information on the 2013 Capital One Road to the Roar Pre-Trials, go to: www.curling.ca/roadtotheroar/.To purchase tickets, go to: www.curling.ca/tickets/.